Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura gives an update on the 3D conversion for Paramount Pictures' G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and discusses the sequences that work well with the 3D format. He also comments on the last-minute delay which was prompted by the decision to convert to 3D.

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By Paul Romano - 11/11/2012

Speaking with Collider, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura discusses Paramount Pictures' upcoming sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Originally set for a June 2012 release, the Jon Chu-directed action film was pushed to March 2013 - a nine month delay - to convert the movie to 3D and film some reshoots. "When you’re planning yourself all towards one direction, you know, you definitely go, ‘Whoa, what the hell?’," says Bonaventura on the film's last-minute delay. "But the second — here’s a sort of simple way for me to look at things: if the studio wants to spend money on making your movie better, let them… I find it hilarious when people fight that, you know? I’m like, ‘Great, you want to spend a lot of money and try to make our movie a bigger success? Okay! That sounds good.’ And Jon got that too. The first moment you’re sort of going, “Whoa! Uhhh, wait.’ Then you realize, ‘Oh okay, great, let’s do that.’"

Bonaventure also comments on the advancement of 3D technology, and how G.I. Joe's delay allowed a post-conversion to be done right. "We learned a lot about 3D — I personally learned a lot about 3D in Transformers. The conversion part of the 3D process is night and day, you know, every three, four months it’s better than it was before. It’s amazing how fast that thing has changes. And originally we didn’t really have the time or the resources to try to figure out how to shoot it in 3D in the time frame that we were originally talking about, you know, starting in August and releasing in June. So this delay has allowed us to go at it now."

Finally, the producer talks about how some sequences in the sequel work very well in 3D, specifically naming a fight between Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) which he calls "perfect for 3D". "Jon [Chu] has some sequences that are really, there’s a phenomenal — for G.I. Joe fans it’s going to be one of the really great scenes for them, because there’s a fight between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow in a hallway that is so perfect for 3D I can’t tell you," he says. "It’s going to be like one of the coolest fights ever in 3D, because there’s so much about it that’s dynamic. That’s going to be really fun. And you know people have seen bits and pieces of the Himalayan sort of rock climbing thing, it’s almost 3D without having turned into 3D, so I can’t wait to see that. That one’s going to be like what the hell?"

Translation: The original cut had Duke being killed, but when 21 Jump Street and Magic Mike were big hits, the studio decided that killing off Channing Tatum could hurt the box office. And then they realized that a $3 3D surcharge for every ticket sale could buy them all new yachts.

I was willing to see it last June, too bad. The delay for 3D and pushing it to a less busy month SHOULD be a good idea - but I can't help but to think of John Carter (released in March). I'm not sure if I'll see this, it looks well directed (that cliff scene looks cool), and Willis and Johnson usually make bad movies watchable.

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